Republican challenges Stitt in governor’s race
Mark Sherwood warns against Joe Biden’s influence
A Broken Arrow Republican who has railed against COVID-19 mask and vaccine mandates and espoused debunked theories that the 2020 election was stolen plans to jump into the governor’s race and challenge Gov. Kevin Stitt from the far right.
Mark Sherwood, 56, a naturopathic doctor who owns a Tulsa wellnessbased medical practice with his wife, says he will run for governor.
In a campaign announcement, Sherwood criticized Stitt and the GOP-led state Legislature and warned of the Biden administration’s influence in Oklahoma despite Republicans holding all statewide positions and representing all of its congressional districts. “Our great state of Oklahoma is under attack from the rogue BIDEN COM
MUNIST REGIME!!” Sherwood wrote. “Even worse, we are left undefended by our current Governor who is unwilling or incapable of leading. To share in this complacency, we have an apathetic legislature, that is unmotivated in protecting our natural, inalienable rights grant
ed to us by GOD.”
Sherwood said he planned to formally announce his gubernatorial campaign Thursday evening in Tulsa at an “Audit the Vote” rally hosted by far-right U.S. Senate candidate Jackson Lahmeyer.
A licensed minister, motivational speaker and former bodybuilder, Sherwood spent 24 years with the Tulsa Police Department, retiring in 2013 as a lieutenant. He and his wife have co-authored several books about wellness and host a weekly television program.
Previously a registered independent, Sherwood registered as a Republican on Sept. 1, according to public voter records.
“I was registered as an independent because I was sick and tired of politics,” he said in an interview. Recently, he decided he couldn't be apathetic any longer and he had to get involved in politics, specifically within the Republican Party.
Sherwood has said if he were governor, he would have already called a special legislative session to try and pass legislation to block vaccine mandates, including those imposed by some local hospitals and private businesses. Despite pressure from an ultraconservative group of state lawmakers, Stitt's office said he doesn't plan to call a special session, and the governor has said he doesn't plan to tell private businesses how they should operate.
Recent polling showed the idea of the state government interfering in private business decisions regarding vaccinations was unpopular with nearly twothirds of the registered Republicans surveyed.
Sherwood said most of the issues he see as integral to his campaign are “political landmines.” He insinuated that Stitt is shying away from blocking COVID-19 vaccine mandates because it's a hot-button issue, and any action the governor might take would anger some Oklahomans.
“As the chief executive officer of the state, or even the chief executive officer in any organization, you can't dodge decisions and be a leader,” Sherwood said. “That's called politics. I am not a politician, and will never be. I am a leader, and we don't need more double-talk or double-speak.”
In a Facebook post, Sherwood called COVID-19 vaccines “poison,” despite billions of people worldwide having safely received the shots. He did not answer a question about whether he had received the vaccine but did say he had previously contracted the virus.
He said a healthy diet and healthy lifestyle was key to him weathering the virus that has killed more than 650,000 Americans and 9,370 Oklahomans.
Sherwood, who has never before served in elected office, said he has a “zero tolerance policy” for mask and vaccine mandates, vaccine passports and lockdowns due to COVID-19.
“I believe the concept of vaccine and mask mandates needs to end,” he said. “Parents need to make the decision on what medications to put in their child's body, what clothes they should wear, how they should be raised.”
As governor, Sherwood says he will be guided by what is godly. He also aims to eliminate abortion entirely. On the campaign trail in 2018, Stitt vowed to sign every anti-abortion bill to come to his desk, a promise the governor says he has upheld through three legislative sessions.
Sherwood has criticized Stitt for welcoming to Oklahoma Afghan refugees fleeing the Taliban regime.
On social media, Sherwood has also parroted former President Donald Trump's baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Sherwood said he would work with the Oklahoma Legislature to nullify all of President Joe Biden's executive orders and any federal legislation passed during his time in office until a forensic election audit has been completed in key states and Trump has been reinstated as president.
Stitt has never publicly questioned the results of the 2020 presidential election. He was one of the state's first Republican elected officials to acknowledge Biden's win.
Also vying for the Republican nomination for governor is former state Sen. Ervin Yen, an Oklahoma City anesthesiologist. Yen has criticized the governor's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and previously said that unlike Stitt, he would push for a statewide mask mandate to reduce the spread of the virus.
Former state Sen. Connie Johnson is the lone Democrat in the race thus far. She ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2018 and for U.S. Senate in 2014.